Second
(and last) letter from Kashmir – 18 July 2006
I have been here now two-and-a- half months
and, while the original plan was for me to have remained until 20 August, I
will actually be ending my assignment here 20 July. My next assignment is Khartoum and they want me
there immediately. So I will be leaving Muzaffarabad Thursday afternoon, I’ll
take care of paperwork in Islamabad on Friday, fly to Geneva Sunday, have a day
of briefings on Monday and – and then to Khartoum. All of which is dependent upon
my visa being issued. But I’ll return to Sudan in a minute.
The time here has gone too quickly. Like
all postings, this one has had its frustrations as well as the moments one will
linger over fondly. I have been moved by the warmth of the earthquake victims –
those who have lost so much – children or parents or siblings and homes and
possessions -- and live under such difficult (and sometimes squalid) conditions
in the camps – or in tents next to their destroyed houses. Still, they invite
you for tea and complain so little about their plight. I have now seen photos
of what Muzaffarabad was like before the earthquake – before everything became
a heap of rubble. It will be a very very long time before this is rebuilt. And,
with the monsoon rains, which have started, there are landslides and mudslides
– and we can only hope the loss of lives will be minimal.
The past few weeks, we have been trying to
relocate people from villages in the mountains around Muzaffarbad which are in
danger. But it has been a frustrating undertaking. First it was an issue of the
government not providing adequate information to the villagers about who had to
relocate, why, to where, for how long, what they could bring, etc. Then, the
numbers in danger changed dramatically, from a projected 50,000 down to 6,000 –
and in the end, we have moved no more than 2,500 people. Some, on their own
initiative, have gone to other safer areas. Others just won’t leave – in part
because conditions in the camps are far from ideal. There are not enough
latrines, in many camps the water supply is inadequate, some of the camps need
to be dismantled and the tents re-pitched as there was no site planning and
people are living on top of each other, with the rains many of the tents are
flooding and a lot of tents need to be replaced. As the Commissioner who heads
the Camp Management Organization (CMO) is very nervous that he will be blamed
if there are any deaths, relocation meetings are very acrimonious with
accusations that the international agencies are not doing what they promised.
In some cases, it is true. It others, it is the CMO that is at fault. But, with
UNHCR scheduled to withdraw from here at the end of August, and with over 20,000
people still in camps, there are grounds to be gravely concerned about how CMO
– the government – will manage the camps on their own, even with the training
and the new staffing table projected.
And, if houses are not reconstructed before
the winter – and it is likely they will not be as people have not received
their second compensation payment for housing reconstruction – the odds are
that many people will come down from the mountains before the next winter, as
living in tents will be a very unattractive option. Particularly if they have
no supplies stocked up to see them through the winter.
Life is very much lived on the edge for
many. With the monsoon, the Nellum and Jellum rivers are an angry rushes of water,
dark brown in colour. The rivers also carry with them logs that are washed down
from higher areas. And logs are money. So people go into to this bitterly cold,
bitterly fierce water to catch the logs. Children catch little sticks –
sometimes with a net. Old people catch larger ones. And the strongest of the
men catch huge logs. I’m told they also catch dead fish -- killing fish with
dynamite, which they used to do in Montenegro, is something that
apparently also happens here. A day ago, two people got swept away by the river
but were lucky enough to catch on to a small island, and were helicoptered to safety
when it became clear there was no other way to rescue them. A few days ago, I
had planned to go to Neelum
Valley to see how people
who had returned to their village after the earthquake have made out there. It
had to be cancelled because, with the heavy rains, there were many landslides
blocking the roads. Fortunately, a month
ago, I went to the Lipa
Valley – one of most
beautiful in Pakistani Kashmir. The mountain pass we crossed was over 11,000
feet; spectacular mountains with terraced rice fields, and wooden Swiss-chalet
type houses. I had also hoped to go to the north – to Gilgit and the Hunza Valley
– but as my stay here has been cut short so that means I will need to return to
Pakistan
in future. I have visited Lahore,
but not Karachi
nor Peshawar.
Definitely need to schedule a return, but hopefully when it is not as hot.
Still – from the frying pan into …. I
imagine Khartoum
– and especially Darfur -- will be even hotter
than here. And there will be mosquitoes and, therefore, the need for malaria
pills. But the physical challenge is likely to be minor compared with the
mental one.
“Your assignment, if you chose to accept
it, is….” Gulp!!!!
What I know thus far is that, in the
context of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) which was signed on 5 May 2006
between Sudan’s Government and one faction of the insurgent Sudan Liberation
Army (SLA/MM), there is an agreement by the parties to conduct a Darfur Joint
Assessment Mission (JAM) led by the UN, World Bank, African Development Bank
(AfDB) amongst others. The objective of the JAM is to assess and plan for
coordinated development policies and integrated approaches to the challenges of
reconstruction in post-conflict Darfur. Phase
1 of this JAM process will involve the preparation and implementation of a “Darfur
Early Recovery Programme” to be led by the Darfur Early Recovery Team, which
will be based in the Office of the Resident Coordinator. I will be the
protection expert in the Team and will be expected to cover issues such as
support to returns of IDPs, DDR (disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration)
activities including for children associated with armed forces, capacity
building for local authorities, strengthening rule of law activities, land and
property issues, initial peace and reconciliation interventions and gender
dimensions of the conflict. Protection expertise will need to be provided
throughout the process to as to ensure that protection issues are fully
integrated in the programme.
I can't write at this time without mentioning how disturbed I am by
what is happening between Israel
and Lebanon
-- and pray that madmen on both sides don't turn this into a Middle Eastern
conflagration. Whether we will get it is another story.
I will write again when I am in Khartoum have a better sense of my
situation. Meanwhile, I know you will all wish me luck. And do write to send me
your news. Emails from friends is one of the highlights of a day in the field.
Till later.
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